New Grow room in the making Electrical issue

So This will be my new Grow room. Planning on setting up a 10x10 grow tent in the room or might use the whole room,haven't decided. Its on the 2nd Floor.
The problem is how to get more power to the room?

Main electric Panel in garage.

I see two options. First is to drill a hole and run the wire outside of the house to the electric panel. I don't like this idea.
Second option was to run the wire inside of the house along the ceiling. It'll look ugly but I dont care about the look.
Max amount of power I would use is 5kw. I was going to install a 50amp breaker and run 6/3 wire. Wiring will be 220v direct to master lighting controller.




Any Input or ideas are welcomed
Thx

If you only foresee the need for a sub panel/ lighting controller that is fed from a 2-pole 50A breaker then you would be more efficient to use 3-#8 AWG copper THHN wires . #6 is overkill although it will leave you the possibility of future expansion. With the 220V/50A you will have 9.6 kW @ 120V available if the 50A 2- pole breaker is loaded to 80% capacity. You can also run a #12 grounding conductor (green) directly to the main grounding bar (at the main panel) for extra safety.If you choose to omit the the green grounding conductor at least make sure the conduit from the panel to the controller is made tight and electrically continuous (solidly grounded). Good luck.

This panel shown in the photo doesn't include a main breaker so it must be a main lug panel fed from another location which includes a main breaker housing. I am assuming you know of the circuit characteristics (size of wire feeding the panel in the photo and ampere rating of the breaker) and if they are enough to supply all the branch circuits that might be on simultaneously including the new lighting controller you intend to install. Also, does the romex have a supplemental grounding conductor? I don't see it labeled anywhere on the product photo , unless I'm temporarily blind.

The main breaker is on the outside of the house. I haven't purchased the wire yet. Still researching

[h=1]Southwire 125 ft. Black 8-3 Romex NM-B W/G Wire[/h]

That 8/3 romex with the ground will do the trick. Unscrew the panel door and identify what type of breaker you will need. Chances are its (although I can't be 100% sure because I can't zoom into the small details to be certain) a 2-pole 50A Murray plug-in type breaker. If I'm wrong just take a close-up picture of the front of one of the breakers so I can be certain.

Find an available 3/4" diameter knockout. You want it to be on top.From the inside top view you would need a pre-made concentric knockout (pop out the inner round and then pry off both sides of the first outer ring of the available knockout topside). Try to pop it out from the inside with a heavy flat screwdriver and bang it out by tapping the handle end of the screwdriver with the open side of the lineman pliers. Then cutout a small square of the wallboard immediately above the panel and in front of the romex connector location (small yet big enough to fit the 2-screw romex squeeze connector) and stick the 3/4" Romex connector in the knockout and don't forget to tighten that locknut by banging on the ridges with the flat screwdriver and pliers (try not to make contact with the live copper bus) .

In so far we have the breaker installed and the 3/4" romex connector. Now plan your route to drill and chop through the walls or just surface mount the romex cable to limit chopping and patching (not allowed by Code but hey, who are we kidding) with 3/4" one hole emt straps screwed into the wall studs and ceiling rafters with 2" course drywall screws and back the strap with 1-1/4" diameter (readne and a quarter inch) x 1/4" hole fender washers. If you need to pop through the ceiling with the cable save yourself some hassle (I wouldn't normally do it this way but I have a feeling you would like some shortcuts that don't neccessarily infringe on safety) and make a hole about 5" away from the wall and through the ceiling (to avoid a timber) for a 1" EMT sleeve that extends 1" below the ceiling and 1" above the floor. Pull your romex through such a sleeve (if you are doing the ghetto surface mounting method, nothing to be ashamed of) every time you need to run it through a floor or wall.

When you are done with the entire run and all wires are terminated within the panel enclosure to their respective breakers and isolated grounding bar at the controller, main grounding conductor connection at the breaker panel, just fill the romex containing emt nipple sleeves with silicone on each end (light tight when necessary ). You may need to use a toggle bolt or two if you absolutely need a strap somewhere that a stud is not located for the drywall screw to bite. Use 1/4" x 3" long toggle bolt/wings and drill through the wallboard with a 7/8" hole saw (preferably but knocking through the toggle bolt hole with a screwdriver and pliers could also do the trick) aligned with the strap hole if a toggle is to be used. Questions?

I was thinking of removing the cover of the electric panel and installing a 40amp dual pole breaker. Running the wire nailed to the corner of the ceiling. Then gently replace the electric panel cover over the wire. I didn't want to cut out dry wall and run the wire thru knockouts because I'm the only person living here. Also when I move you won't be able to tell a grow was here.

It seems safe to me. but is it ?

As long as you don't pinch the wire anywhere, you're good. These are basically temp methods we're talking about so just use common sense and you're good to go.

I started running power 8/3 wire to my new room.
Decided to cut holes on the second floor walls. Dry wall should be easy to patch. I'm not going to cut holes in the garage walls, too many wires behind there didn't want to take the risk.

Random shots...... work in progress

Next I want to set up a 12,000 BTU air conditioner. Not sure which air conditioner to use. I'm planning to build my own air ducts/flex hose. Is there a big difference in cooling power ? They're both rated 12,000 BTU.

965W / 8.5A 12.44 EER portable or 1,110 Watts (10.8 EER) window (I will attach vent hose)


I like how this guy modified his window unit.
[video=youtube;JI3rviFUK-k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI3rviFUK-k[/video]

water dripping from the a/c if drawing air from your grow room will leak outside and dogs can smell the weed in the water residue from the ac,, use the interior one and send the water to a drain or sink or anywhere but outside..nice set up can't wait to see that thing full of tree's

=( Customs got my beans. Hope attitude resend soon.

I used Romex 6/3 to wire my sub panel also. Electrician codes said to use it if your going off of a 50a breaker in your main. I ran that 6/3 to my sub panel then put 8 20a breakers (wired for 4000w veg and 4000w flower) using 12/3. I probably could of got away with using 8/3, but the piece of mind that my house is less likely to catch on fire by spending the extra money ($50 for 30' 6/3 wire) was well worth it. My advise is research the codes of breaker size vs wire gauges. It's a one time thing, so do your best to do it right I had to cut drywall center of stud to center of stud in a lot of places to see where I was going and to be able to run the wire. Doing all the wiring in the attic sucked big time because it was hot as fuck. Don't forget your junction boxes, staples, wire nuts and all the other pieces needed to do the job safe and correct! "Black to brass to save your ass"!! Good luck and hit me up if I can try and help you with anything! I literally just finished my electrical.

I think you made a wise decision to use Romex 6/3 protected by a 50 amp breaker to feed your sub-panel. Even though the wires in the Romex cable are THHN rated, and considering that the NEC wire ampacity table (NEC Table 310.16) is based on an ambient air temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the ampacity of the cable must be derate where the cable is run through places that have elevated ambient temperatures. Using the 60 degrees Celsius column (which you did) in Table 310.16 is playing it safe in my opinion.

Please be advise that the Allowable Ampacities Table formerly called Table 310.16 prior to 2011, is now Table 310.15(B)(16) in the latest edition of NEC codes.

LocknessMD said:

I used Romex 6/3 to wire my sub panel also. Electrician codes said to use it if your going off of a 50a breaker in your main. I ran that 6/3 to my sub panel then put 8 20a breakers (wired for 4000w veg and 4000w flower) using 12/3. I probably could of got away with using 8/3, but the piece of mind that my house is less likely to catch on fire by spending the extra money ($50 for 30' 6/3 wire) was well worth it. My advise is research the codes of breaker size vs wire gauges. It's a one time thing, so do your best to do it right I had to cut drywall center of stud to center of stud in a lot of places to see where I was going and to be able to run the wire. Doing all the wiring in the attic sucked big time because it was hot as fuck. Don't forget your junction boxes, staples, wire nuts and all the other pieces needed to do the job safe and correct! "Black to brass to save your ass"!! Good luck and hit me up if I can try and help you with anything! I literally just finished my electrical.

Click to expand...

8-3 Romex can handle a 50 amp breaker. You're never going to max out the ampere rating of the wire anyway so why waste money on 6-3 cable? Amatuers love to err on the side of caution without taking into account that they will never use the wire up to the maximum ampere rating to begin with. If you feel like wasting money then who am I to stop you.

When LocknessMD said "doing all the wiring in the attic", I was assuming the feeder to the sub-panel was being run through the attic. I admit I may have err on the side of caution in my post when LocknessMD mention the attic was hot as fuck, not knowing just how much hot will that attic get during the summer.

Lawyers run the country, and write the code books...
Every electrical UL approved item, is underrated, and able to withstand over 120% of its listed rating...
Everybody err's on the side of caution....
I say Fukk it, you are never going to have 50 amps running your grow...
You wouldn't be able to afford your start up electric bill....
Unless you're turning the meter over or something....
12,000 watts [12.0 kw] running it 24/7 in veg, and 12/12 in bud
I think that's about 216-220 kw per day, what is your electric bill per kw now?
Just for the grow, 6600 kw per month...
Makes ya want to grow outside?

Hi Guys. Woot! Got my resent beans today. Thx attitude for the freebies. Germinating has begun. I learned this germinating method from watching UrbanGrowers videos. Basically you just drop the seeds in water for 48 hours. Once the tail pops out you can put it in soil or other mediums. Works well.


Progress is slow....
<--- the 8/3 wire in the garage, about 10' from electric box

Got a Dremel 4000 yesterday for like $80 can't wait to try it out. It was on sale at Lowes for $89.99. Plus I used a 10% off coupon code I found online. Good deal.